Method of forming welded rings.



No. 653,900. Patnted m 17, I900. T. J.BRAY.

METHOD OF FORMING WELDED RINGS.

(Application filed on. 14 1899. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shget I No.653,900. Patented July l7, I900;

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METHOB 0F NE W ED RINGS.

(A 11mm filed Oct 14 1899.

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NITE STATES THOMAS J. BRAY, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THENA- TIONAL TUBE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE AND NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF FORMING WELDED RINGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part or Letters Patent No. 653,900, dated July 17,1900. Application filed October 14, 1899. Serial No. 733,547. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. BRAY, a resident of Pittsburg, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Methods of Forming Welded Rings; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof.

My invention relates to the forming of cir- IO cular articles-such, forexample, as rings, bands, pipe-couplings, thread-protectors, or likearticles-its object being to provide for the formation of two 'or moresuch rings at one time, so as to reduce the labor and to I 5 provide forthe making of sucharticles from wide strips instead of the narrow stripsor bands usually employed. In the formation of such rings or bands a barcorresponding in width to two or more such rings, but of substantiallythe same thickness throughout, has been bent to weld at one time to formtwo or more such rings, the dies forging the rings and thinning orseparating the metal between them, so as to form two or more such ringsat one welding operation. This has required considerable work on thepart of the dies or rolls, and the object of the present invention is toovercome the necessity of such heavy work by the dies or rolls.

My invention consists in forming such welded rings or like articles byrolling a bar so as to form a series of thick portions eachcorresponding in width to the length of one of the rings to be formedand connected by 3 5 thin webs, cutting the same transversely intoblanks and bending the blanks and welding them at one operation intoring form.

It also consists in certain other improvements, as hereinafter setforth.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iwilldescribe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figures 1 and 2 are sections of the bar as rolled for theproduction of the rings or bands.

Fig. 3 shows the bar cut into blanks and bent into form for welding indies. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of hammerdies, showing theprocess of welding the blanks. Fig. 5 is a cross-section of such dies onthe line'5 5,

Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a cross-section of the welded separated the one fromthe other.

rings wherestill connected by thin webs. Fig. 7 is a section of themandrel, showing a number of such rings thereon, illustrating how therings may be separated in the welding operation; and Fig. Sis across-section of a set of rolls suitable for welding the blanks by arolling operation. Like figures indicatelike parts in each view.

In practicing the invention I take a bar such as shown in Figs. 1 or 2,the bar being rolled with a series of thick portions 1, corresponding tothe different rings to be formed, connected by thin web portions 2. Suchrings are then sheared to proper length for welding, 6 it beingpreferred that their edges shall be scarfed, as shown at 3, Fig. 3, soproviding for the formation of a lap-weld between the ends of the rings.The rings may be welded either with dies or rolls, as desired. I haveillustrated the invention particularly where the rings are welded indies, the blanks being bent into skelp form and heated and placed over amandrel 4 and then inserted between the hammer-dies, the mandrel restingupon the anvil-die 5, while the reciprocating or upper die 6 forms theweld, the mandrel carrying the blank being turned at intervals duringthe welding-strokes. The mandrel employed is the ordinary mandrel forsuch welding operations, but, as shown in the drawings, the dies areprovided with annular projections '7, corresponding to the depressions 8in the blanks, and as the blanks are welded in the dies the edges ofeach ring to be formed are properly swaged to bring them to the exactshape desired by means of such annular projections 7, the side faces ofwhich correspond in shape to the end portions of the different rings soto be formed. In forming the rings they may eitherbe separated duringthe welding operation or the blank may be welded into several rings, thefinished rings 9 being connected by thin webs, as at 10.

In the former case the annular projections 7 5 are of a heightcorresponding to the thickness of the blanks, so that in the weldingoperation the different rings formed may be In the latter case suchprojections are of less height than thickness of the rings. Thelatteroourse is preferred in the forming of pipe-couplings orthread-protectors for pipe where the inner faces of the rings are to bethreaded, the threading of the same serving also to separate the rings.A welded blank composed of a number of such rings can in this Way be fedto the threading-machine instead of the necessity of feeding them one byone, which reduces th'e cost thereof. I am thus enabled to produce anumber of rings at one operation, thus largely cheapening the cost andlabor, because the wide bars for several rings can be produced at lesscost than the narrow bars corresponding to small rings, and the cost andlabor of welding several rings together are no greater than that ofwelding single rings, and in so doing I relieve the dies or weldingdevices from any great strain in swaging the several rings from the bar,overcoming great wear upon the projecting flanges or of the dies whichform the end faces of the several rings welded at the one operation.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The method of forming welded rings, or

like articles, consisting in rolling a bar so as to form a series ofthick portions each corresponding in Width to the length of one-of therings to be formed and connected by thin webs, cutting the sametransversely into blanks, and bending the blanks and welding them at oneoperation into ring form, substantially as set forth.

2. The method of forming welded rings, or like articles, consisting inrolling a bar so as to form a series of thick portions eachcorresponding in width to the length of one of the rings to be formedand connected by thin webs, cutting the same transversely into lengthsand bending the blanks, and welding them into ring form and separatingthem into several rings at one operation, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said THOMAS J. BRAY, have hereunto set myhand.

THOMAS J. BRAY.

\Vitnesses:

GRACE O. RAYMOND, ROBERT C. TOTTEN.

